May was named after the Roman goddess Maia, a goddess of fertility and abundance. Several cultures marked May with fertility festivals of some sort or another, and our modern Pagan festival of Beltane is no exception. It’s a celebration of fertility, sexuality, flowers, and love. Spring has sprung, and it’s time to celebrate all the good things in life!
All I want to listen to in May is dub music. This warming weather needs chill music, and there’s nothing more relaxing and happy to me. Here’s the Pandora playlist I can’t seem to turn off lately.
There have been so many critters around lately. We’ve seen lots of birds, known and unknown, and the squirrels are in full frolic mode. We even have a new cat in the neighborhood and I’m partially annoyed that people don’t keep their cats in and partially thrilled to try and make friends. Also, tons of frogs have been appearing for us.
I’ve even been doing a little light gardening as my body allows.
Lunations:
May 4- New Moon in Taurus, 6:45pm EDT
May 18- Full Moon in Scorpio, 5:11pm EDT
Astronomy:
May 6- Eta Aquariids meteor shower begins
May 10- Eta Lyrids meteor shower begins
Celtic Tree Month:
Willow (April 15th- May 12th): Resonance and harmony, creativity, fertility, feminine rights of passage, inspiration, love, love divination, sleep with a willow wand for vivid dreams, protection for underworld journeying, found near water, spring cleaning physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually, letting go of the past.
Hawthorn (May 13th- June 9th); Matters of the heart, love, empowering relationships, fertility, union of male and female (Beltane), intimacy, passion, triple goddess, purification, cleanses the heart of negativity, under protection of faerie realm, guards wells and springs, happiness.
Holidays (non-Pagan):
May 1: Yom HaShoah (Jewish)
May 2: National Day of Prayer
May 4: Star Wars Day
May 5: Cinco de Mayo
May 6: Ramadan starts (Muslim)
May 9: Yom Ha’atzmaut (Jewish)
May 12: Mother’s Day
May 18: Armed Forces Day
May 23: Lag BaOmer (Jewish)
May 27: Memorial Day
May 30: Ascension Day (Christian)
May 31: Lailat al-Qadr (Muslim)
Holidays (Pagan):
May 1: Beltane/May Day- a fire festival dedicated to fertility
May 5: Thargelion Noumenia- Greek festival dedicated to all the deities.
May 8: Greek feast of Aphrodite and Eros, honoring love and passion
May 10: Thargelia- Greek festival honoring Artemis and Apollo and purification of the community.
May 18: Feast of the Greek god Pan
May 19: Celtic festival of wells and springs honoring Brigid
Themes for the month: Celebration, flowers, joy, sexuality, growth, expansion, warmth and fun.
General activities for the month: Cooking out, swimming, spending time outside, gathering flowers, love magick, beauty magick, sex magick.
Herbs I’m using: Fresh dill, symbolic of Spring and love and sexuality. Parsley, it tastes so green and herbal and delicious, so I’m adding it to everything I cook. Sage and cedar, to bless and cleanse the new place so the energy is fresh and clear!
Stones I’m using: Selenite, also to clear, cleanse, and refresh the energy of the new place. Chrysoprase, iridescent green that has such a natural/plant energy, it reminds me of Spring and the forest. Rutilated smoky quartz, the enormous, 10 lb chunk I have that’s being transferred from its place of honor in this house to a place of honor in the new house.
Goddess of the Month: Persephone as Kore, Goddess of flowers and Spring. As a Goddess who has returned from The Underworld, her joy and innocence show us that we can come back from the darkness ourselves. Her joy has been earned, and I feel like it’s all the sweeter as a result.
3 card reading:
This month, we start with the Knight of Swords. So we’re communicating clearly and possibly even aggressively. But we aren’t accepting any bullshit, and we’re cutting through to the truth of things. We’re finding a sense of clarity and focus this month, and this may even mean cutting away things that are holding us back.
Next, we see the Page of Cups. So we’re also feeling idealistic about a new start this month. This could be a new love, a new spiritual endeavor, or a new creative project. We’re feeling the beginnings of something that we really care about. Whether or not it lasts is another question alltogether. The excitement is in the beginning.
And finally, we have 8 of Cups. So in order to enjoy our new beginning above, we may have to leave behind something else that we’ve built. It may be that the thing that the Knight of Swords is cutting away is what’s allowing us to have the new start of the Page of Cups. This is fine, and it’s a natural progression in life. When you see the 8 of Cups, you know that it’s time to turn from what you once thought was important and move toward a new future.
Our special guidance card is Know Your Fears. So this is a call to examine what it is that you’re afraid of, especially in letting go of the old. Are you afraid that the new thing won’t measure up? Or that you’ll miss what you’re leaving behind? Spend some time really thinking about what it is that you’re afraid of, and whether your fears are justified, or whether they’re just holding you back.
The Garden by Moonlight
By Amy Lowell
A black cat among roses,
Phlox, lilac-misted under a first-quarter moon,
The sweet smells of heliotrope and night-scented stock.
The garden is very still,
It is dazed with moonlight,
Contented with perfume,
Dreaming the opium dreams of its folded poppies.
Firefly lights open and vanish
High as the tip buds of the golden glow
Low as the sweet alyssum flowers at my feet.
Moon-shimmer on leaves and trellises,
Moon-spikes shafting through the snow ball bush.
Only the little faces of the ladies’ delight are alert and staring,
Only the cat, padding between the roses,
Shakes a branch and breaks the chequered pattern
As water is broken by the falling of a leaf.
Then you come,
And you are quiet like the garden,
And white like the alyssum flowers,
And beautiful as the silent sparks of the fireflies.
Ah, Beloved, do you see those orange lilies?
They knew my mother,
But who belonging to me will they know
When I am gone.
My personal tides: We’re finally moving to our new sacred home! There were several false starts, but it looks like we just needed the oomph of Beltane to jolt the energy into motion. When I wrote April’s post, we were supposed to have closed by the time it posted, but it didn’t happen. May is our month! So we’ve started moving and doing some renovation work, doing our final rounds of decluttering and minimizing, and getting that full-life transformation that we’ve really been needing for a long, long time.
My personal goals: Husbear’s foot is still gummy, so a lot of the move is on me. Fortunately, we’re moving about 20 minutes away, so if I can take 3 car-sized loads/week, we’ll get there in time. Then one or two big loads of furniture, and BOOM! Moved. Then comes the yard sale… :0)
Pretty much everything is revolving around my vision of what I want this new life to be and creating SACRED HOME for Husbear, the cats, and myself. 🙂
Blessed be! 🙂